Two planes one transmitter challenge

Maxx

Active member
Allo everyone !

Do you think it would be possible to make a transmitter control two planes at the same time ? If yes , That would be funny to see someone try it ...
 

Gazoo

Well-known member
Once upon a time I had a DX5e transmitter that I used to control multiple planes with. It does not have a memory for multiple planes. You just needed to unplug the battery on one and plug it in on another.

Forgot to unplug one at the field an put it into the back of my SUV while flying another. It ate the other planes in the back of the car. No person should have to witness the aftermath of such a tragedy.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
Allo everyone !

Do you think it would be possible to make a transmitter control two planes at the same time ? If yes , That would be funny to see someone try it ...

I would NOT want that, only for a safety standpoint - how do you land them? Keep them both under control and not flying over/into pilots or people? (Sorry, I've had several close calls recently, and I want to prevent anything like that from happening again).

That said, our club president had devised a plane once that took 3 transmitters to fly. One person controlled throttle, another person controlled ailerons, and the last person controlled elevator. We had some VERY skilled pilots controlling it, and it was certainly an interesting gambit - the plane ended up crashing during the landing, even with everyone calling out throttle cut, gliding in, and keeping it as straight as possible on the approach. Not something I'd recommend people try.
 

herbertjalarcon

Elite member
I have accidentally bound two gliders to the same transmitter and both worked...so I did it with my hovercrafts,,,it worked until one hit a little something on the runway and changed it;s direction...but for a minute or so they went down the runway together...
 

Merv

Site Moderator
Staff member
It's defiantly possible to do. I agree with @sprzout, it would be a very bad idea to try, not at all safe. Even if the two planes were identical, the wind each would encounter would be slightly different. They would soon be out of sync and each need different inputs.

Here is an old school idea. The planes are all joined with wire or CF tubes, 4 planes flown in formation. One plane controls the throttle, one is left aileron, one is right and one is elevator.

Looks cool but is hard to pull off.

239.jpg
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
It's defiantly possible to do. I agree with @sprzout, it would be a very bad idea to try, not at all safe. Even if the two planes were identical, the wind each would encounter would be slightly different. They would soon be out of sync and each need different inputs.

Here is an old school idea. The planes are all joined with wire or CF tubes, 4 planes flown in formation. One plane controls the throttle, one is left aileron, one is right and one is elevator.

Looks cool but is hard to pull off.

View attachment 158762
I've seen a couple guys do that before. As you've said, it looks cool, but the logistics of how you rig it up is kind of a nightmare...
 

Maxx

Active member
It's defiantly possible to do. I agree with @sprzout, it would be a very bad idea to try, not at all safe. Even if the two planes were identical, the wind each would encounter would be slightly different. They would soon be out of sync and each need different inputs.

Here is an old school idea. The planes are all joined with wire or CF tubes, 4 planes flown in formation. One plane controls the throttle, one is left aileron, one is right and one is elevator.

Looks cool but is hard to pull off.

View attachment 158762
It does look pretty cool !
 

Spacefarer

Active member
You could sort of do this if you made one plane follow the other using inav, but other than that, you would immediately get desync and crash one of them.
 

Piotrsko

Master member
I dunno, typically you got 2ea 2 axis sticks, throttle could be joined or on different channels. Mounted on a pedestal, you'll have enough room for 2 pilots. 3channel planes. What could go wrong? Got enough channels, could have a whole fleet in the sky. Although channels is really the wrong term.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
I've seen this happen accidentally too many times at indoor fly events with DSM2 BNF planes. Pilot 1 is in the air, pilot two fires up plane that just happens to be on same DSM2 channel, 2 planes are moving and nobody knows who is controlling what. DSMX, Fr*, and other channel hopping protocols do not suffer from this.

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

herbertjalarcon

Elite member
It's defiantly possible to do. I agree with @sprzout, it would be a very bad idea to try, not at all safe. Even if the two planes were identical, the wind each would encounter would be slightly different. They would soon be out of sync and each need different inputs.

Here is an old school idea. The planes are all joined with wire or CF tubes, 4 planes flown in formation. One plane controls the throttle, one is left aileron, one is right and one is elevator.

Looks cool but is hard to pull off.

View attachment 158762
Thanks for sharing this...this is my next project once I finish the Sopwith Camel I'm working on...should finish it tonight, and I'm gonna do 4 mini-scouts connected...should be a challenge and a blast! I have to say I've been getting a little bored with the standard builds...
 

evranch

Well-known member
I was considering how to do this awhile ago with one transmitter and a pair of autopiloted Arduplane airplanes. In theory, you could cover twice the area at the same time by launching each one and switching it into auto, then launching the next immediately. You allow them to fly their flight plans, then land them in sequence.

Arduplane does not have addressing through the RC link, but you could have the mode switches for each plane on separate RC channels that are unused on the other plane. So when they finish their flight patterns, you throw both switches to RTL and have them set to circle at different pattern altitudes. Then switch the first one to manual and land it while the second flies a holding pattern, repeat to bring the second one down.

Theoretically it would work. In practice, you are not in control of one of your airplanes at any given time. Legal concerns aside, it requires some serious trust in your autopilot, flight model tuning, battery levels and hardware, and just does not sound like a good practice.
 

Ketchup

4s mini mustang
I think that somebody where I fly tried this once. He had two identical planes bound to the same transmitter and he flew them together, but they were bound together with a string at the wingtips.
 

herbertjalarcon

Elite member
Thanks for sharing this...this is my next project once I finish the Sopwith Camel I'm working on...should finish it tonight, and I'm gonna do 4 mini-scouts connected...should be a challenge and a blast! I have to say I've been getting a little bored with the standard builds...
To be clear...I'm going for the formation thing...not individual planes bound together...that's crazy talk! hahahahahaha